Prognosis for dementia research uncertain in the Brexit election

时间：2019-03-03 08:07:01166网络整理admin

Alfred Pasieka/SPL TWO years is an awfully long time in politics. In April 2015 the UK was in the middle of a general election campaign that, by today’s standards, felt very much like politics as usual. All the major parties published manifestos laying out their positions on the economy, the NHS, benefits, housing and so on. There were even some pledges on science. One of the more eye-catching was the Conservatives’ proposal to turn the UK into an international leader in dementia research. They promised to pump £300 million into basic science, create a separate fund for drug discovery and establish an international dementia institute. The initiative was the pet project of the prime minister, David Cameron, who described dementia as “one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime”. And with good reason (see “Defying dementia: How we can wrest back control“). Around 50 million people are living with dementia worldwide, and the number is expected to double in 20 years. Progress on treatments is painfully slow: in recent months several promising experimental drugs have crashed and burned in clinical trials. Cameron unexpectedly won the election and, to his credit, set about making good on the promises. But then came the Brexit vote. Cameron quit and the pledges of 2015 became irrelevant. The UK now faces another general election. The manifestos have yet to be published but the danger is that – with Cameron gone and the task of extracting the UK from the EU subsuming all else – those admirable but costly commitments to dementia research will fall by the wayside. “Last week’s March for Science proved that science activism is alive and well in the UK” That would be a serious setback for both UK and international research. Even though progress has been made in the past few years, the job is incomplete. Campaigners say that funding for basic dementia science needs to double again by 2025. For now, the messages from the government are mixed. When Alzheimer’s Research UK announced in January that Cameron would be its new president, a spokesperson for the prime minister Theresa May said: “We are committed to taking forward the plans that have been already set out for increased support for helping people with dementia and tackling this vital issue.” Warm words, but well short of explicit backing for the research element of the project. On the plus side, only last week May’s government announced further details of the promised Dementia Research Institute, which is being set up at University College London with £150 million of public money. But that merely honours an existing pledge. More momentum could be lost if the Conservatives (and the other parties) don’t explicitly recommit to research. Even if they do, challenges lie ahead. A “hard” Brexit might make it difficult to attract the overseas talent and international collaborations that are an important part of delivering world-class science. The uncertainty over dementia research is a warning to the entire UK science base. The Conservatives look set to win at a canter in June, and may be tempted to write a manifesto short on policies to ensure their hands are not tied by inconvenient spending pledges when the work of Brexit kicks in. Last week’s March for Science proved that science activism is alive and well in the UK. But it must be the start of something bigger. Now is the time to crank up the pressure and make sure science does not vanish from a general election campaign that is anything but business as usual. This article appeared in print under the headline “Prognosis uncertain” More on these topics: